The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Nathaniel Philbrick (Author, Contributor), Thomas Nickerson (Author), Thomas Philbrick (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: May 1, 2000

In 1820, the Nantucket whaleship Essex, thousands of miles from home in the South Pacific, was rammed by an angry sperm whale. The Essex sank, leaving twenty crew members floating in three small boats for ninety days. The incident was the Titanic story of its day, and provided the inspiration for Melville's Moby-Dick. The Narrative of the Wreck of the Whaleship Essex, by the ship's first mate, Owen Chase, has long been the fundamental account of the Essex's doomed voyage. But in 1980, a new account of the disaster was discovered, penned by Thomas Nickerson, the fifteen-year-old cabin boy who was steering the ship when the whale attacked. Now, Nickerson's harrowing tale can be read alongside Chase's in one authoritative edition, which includes more than a dozen other accounts from articles and newspapers, many of which have never appeared in book form.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea described the loss of the whaler Essex in the Pacific Ocean--the whale attack that inspired the climax of Melville's Moby Dickand the horrors the crew suffered as they strove to return home. Philbrick's book sought to balance first-mate Owen Chase's classic version of the Essex disaster against the narrative, discovered in 1981, of Thomas Nickerson, an Essex cabin boy. This volume collects these and other primary sources: letters sent back to Nantucket when the first survivors reached South America; Chase's narrative and Melville's notes in his copy of it; Nickerson's sketches, written years later, and a Nickerson letter; interviews with the ship's captain; the story of one of the men who remained in the islands near the wreck; and "memories and apocrypha." These are not literary documents; they are sailors' stories of a terrifying experience, full of maritime detail. Appropriate where Philbrick's book or other studies of nineteenth-century men at sea circulate. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Thomas Nickerson and Owen Chase were two of the eight surviving crew members of the Ship Essex.
Thomas Philbrick is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Pittsburgh, and has edited critical editions of the works of Joshua Slocum and Henry Dana Jr.
Nathaniel Philbrick is the author of In the Heart of the Sea and director of the Egan Institute of Maritime Studies. He is also a research fellow at the Nantucket Historical Association.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics; First Edition edition (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140437967
• ISBN-13: 978-0140437966
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #90 in Books > Professional & Technical > Transportation > Ships

More About the Author

Nathaniel Philbrick
Life at a Glance

Born
1956 in Boston, Mass.

Educated
Linden Elementary School and Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh, Pa.; BA in English from Brown University in Providence, RI, and an MA in America Literature from Duke University in Durham, NC

Sailing
Philbrick was Brown's first Intercollegiate All-American sailor in 1978; that year he won the Sunfish North Americans in Barrington, RI; today he and his wife Melissa sail their Beetle Cat Clio and their Tiffany Jane 34 Marie-J in the waters surrounding Nantucket Island.

Married
Melissa Douthart Philbrick, who is an attorney on Nantucket. They have two children: Jennie, 23, and Ethan 20.

Career
After grad school, Philbrick worked for four years at Sailing World magazine; was a freelancer for a number of years, during which time he wrote/edited several sailing books, including Yaahting: A Parody (1984), for which he was the editor-in-chief; during this time he was also the primary caregiver for his two children. After moving to Nantucket in 1986, he became interested in the history of the island and wrote Away Off Shore: Nantucket Island and Its People. He was offered the opportunity to start the Egan Maritime Foundation in 1995, and in 2000 he published In the Heart of the Sea, followed by Sea of Glory, in 2003, and Mayflower, due in May 2006.

Awards and Honors
In the Heart of the Sea won the National Book Award for nonfiction; Revenge of the Whale won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award; Sea of Glory won the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize and the Albion-Monroe Award from the National Maritime Historical Society. Philbrick has also received the Byrne Waterman Award from the Kendall Whaling Museum, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for distinguished service from the USS Constitution Museum, the Nathaniel Bowditch Award from the American Merchant Marine Museum, and the William Bradford Award from the Pilgrim Society.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful material on the worst whaling tragedy of the 1800s, October 10, 2000

By 

T. Whigham (Tampa, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

This book is a collection of accounts, remarks, annotations, and letters from the people involved in the tragedy, their rescuers, and other notable persons, which paints a vivid portrayal of the life of a Nantuckett whaler in the 1800's.

After having killed off the whale population in the Atlantic, the New England whale ships pushed farther into the ocean to find their prey - the spermacetti whale. Hunting grounds in the Pacific were discovered and, after a year's journey rounding South America in which it lost half of its boats in a sudden gale, the whale ship Essex set out to fill its hold with the valuable whale oil armed with only 3 small boats. During a hunt, one of the boats was stove by the death throes of a speared sperm whale and returned to the ship. While enacting repairs, the pings of the first mate's hammer attracted the attention of a large bull sperm whale, a creature uniquely designed for ramming. The bull made two charges, collapsing the bow of the ship on either side of the keel, and 20 men found themselves alone, in 3 open boats, deep in the heart of the blue Pacific, with only faint hopes of rescue.

The Essex did not sink immediately, and the men were able to salvage a few casks of water, some navigational instruments, and hard biscuits (which would later be fouled by ocean spray and induce dehydration in the men). The first mate also had paper and pencil, which he used for keeping a daily diary of their attempts to survive the ravages of storms, thirst, hunger, and attacks by killer whales and large sharks.

I read this book prior to reading "In The Heart of The Sea", also by Nathaniel Philbrick, and I was glad I did. The first-person narratives really bring home the tale, and Philbrick's other book helps fill in the historical background. I would recommend reading this book with a good atlas, so that you can plot the narrator's progress as he tries to bring his ship to South America, against the wind, the current, and his dwindling strength, and realize just how screwed these sailors really were.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete Collection of Personal Accounts of Essex Tragedy, August 20, 2002

By 

Mark A. Smiddy (Benton, Kentucky United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

This a terrific collection of personal accounts gathered together for the first time in one volume. For well over a century Owen Chase's story of the sinking of the whaleship Essex has been the only firsthand documented account. Now side by side with Chase's tale is fellow shipmate Thomas Nickerson's account of the sinking and trial of the Essex crew lost at sea. As is to be expected, the style of the period makes itself felt throughout via word choice, spelling, etc. but more so in Mr. Chase's recounting. The real gem in this volume is Nickerson's retelling of the tale from his point of view, in spite of the strange twists of phrase his warmth and humor show through. If you enjoyed Philbrick's "In the Heart of the Sea" and want to delve a little deeper and explore some of his resources this is the perfect place to start.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Account, July 23, 2009

By 

S. R. Kimball (Eugene, OR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

This book really kept my interest. I had a hard time putting it down. Written by those who were there when it happened, with short pieces by others indirectly involved. The lanquage is in the style of the era, yet is very enjoyable and easily read.